Rhoderick McGrigor

Sir Rhoderick Robert McGrigor
Sir Rhoderick Robert McGrigor
	File:RMcgrigor.jpg Admiral of the Fleet Sir Rhoderick McGrigor; Crown Copyright
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service / branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1910 - 1955
Rank	Captain (31 Dec 1933); Commodore 2nd cl. (26 August 1938); Rear Admiral (8 July 1941); Vice Admiral (15 April 1945); Admiral (2 September 1948); Admiral of the Fleet (1 May 1953)
Commands	4th Destroyer Flotilla; Force B at Pantellaria and Sicily; Flag Officer Sicily; Flag Officer, Taranto and Adriatic; Home Fleet aircraft carriers; 1st Cruiser Squadron; Commander-in-Chief Home Fleet; First Sea Lord;
Battles / wars	Dardanelles, Jutland; Malta Convoys; Arctic Convoys
Awards	GCB (1st January 1951); KCB (14th June 1945); CB (1st January 1944); Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Rhoderick Robert McGrigor GCB (12 April 1893 - 3 December 1959) was a Royal Navy officer and the British First Sea Lord from 1951 to 1955. During his years as professional head of the Royal Navy, he is most remembered as a leading proponent of carrier-based air power.

Early Life

Rhoderick Robert McGrigor was the son of Major General C.R.R. McGrigor CB, CMG, 60th Rifles. In 1931, he married Gwendoline Glyn (widow of Major Charles Greville DSO, Grenadier Guards). The couple adopted twin sons.

He spent his childhood in South Africa and in early 1906 returned to England and was educated at Royal Naval Colleges (Osborne, Isle of Wight and Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth). He spent almost a year out of college, due to a bronchial infection but eventually graduated in 1910. His first ship was the HMS Dreadnought.

Naval service

First World War and inter-war

During the First World War, he served on destroyers in the Mediterranean and with the Grand Fleet, seeing action during the Dardanelles campaign and at the Battle of Jutland.

In the inter-war years, he was promoted on 22nd September 1936 to Captain (D), 4th Destroyer Flotilla (HMS Kempenfelt), with the Home Fleet, where he served until mid-1938. Later in 1938, on 26th August, he became Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief China Station (first on HMS Kent, then HMS Tamar, the RN base at Hong Kong), until April 1940.

Second World War

In early 1941, McGrigor was, briefly, Flag Captain, HMS Renown and was involved in the Malta convoys and other operations in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Between 9th September 1941 and early 1943, he was a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Weapons). In late 1943, he commanded the Naval Force (Force B) covering the capture of the Italian island of Pantelleria (Operation Corkscrew) and the subsequent Invasion of Sicily; he remained as Flag Officer Sicily during Sicilian and Calabrian Campaigns, during which he was wounded when blown from his ship. He was Flag Officer, Taranto and Adriatic (HMS Nile) until the end of 1943.

At the start of 1944, McGrigor briefly commanded Home Fleet aircraft carriers. From 27th March 1944 until July 1945, he was Rear-Admiral/Vice-Admiral Commanding 1st Cruiser Squadron and Second-in-Command Home Fleet (HMS Kent, then HMS Norfolk). During this period, he participated in operations off the Norwegian coast (he was mentioned in despatches on 30 January 1945 for Operation Counterblast) and convoys to North Russia.

On 7th June 1945 he escorted the King Haakon on his return to Norway.

Post-war service

From 1945 onwards, McGrigor was appointed to a number of influential shore posts. On 1st October 1945, he became a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and Vice Chief of Naval Staff, where he stayed until 1947. In 1948, until 1950, he was Commander-in-Chief Home Fleet, then Commander in Chief, Plymouth until 1951. From 20th December 1951, until 1955, he was First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff.

In 1952, McGrigor was appointed as First and Principal Naval ADC to the Queen, a post he held until 1953.

He held several honorary academic awards posts: Hon. LLD St Andrews, 1953; Hon. LLD Aberdeen, 1955; Lord Rector of Aberdeen University, 1954-1957.

References

Royal Navy Officers 1939-1945
Murfett, Malcolm H.(1995). The First Sea Lords from Fisher to Mountbatten. Westport. ISBN 0-275-94231-7
Heathcote, Tony (2002). The British Admirals of the Fleet 1734 - 1995. Pen & Sword Ltd. ISBN 0 85052 835 6

Military offices
Preceded by Sir Edward Syfret	Vice Chief of Naval Staff 1945–1947	Succeeded by Sir John Edelsten
Preceded by The Lord Fraser of North Cape	First Sea Lord 1951–1955	Succeeded by The Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Academic offices
Preceded by Jimmy Edwards	Rector of the University of Aberdeen 1954–1957	Succeeded by John M. Bannerman

v t e First Sea Lords of the Royal Navy
Senior Naval Lords (1689–1771)	Arthur Herbert Sir John Chicheley Edward Russell Henry Priestman Earl of Orford Sir George Rooke Sir John Leake Sir George Byng Sir John Leake Sir George Byng Matthew Aylmer Sir George Byng Sir John Jennings Sir John Norris Sir Charles Wager Lord Archibald Hamilton Lord Harry Powlett Lord Archibald Hamilton Lord Vere Beauclerk Lord Anson Sir William Rowley Edward Boscawen Sir William Rowley Edward Boscawen John Forbes Earl Howe Sir Charles Saunders Augustus Keppel Sir Peircy Brett Sir Francis Holburne
First Naval Lords (1771–1904)	Augustus Hervey Sir Hugh Palliser Robert Man George Darby Sir Robert Harland Sir Hugh Pigot John Leveson-Gower Lord Hood Sir Charles Middleton James Gambier Sir Thomas Troubridge James Gambier John Markham James Gambier Sir Richard Bickerton William Domett Sir Joseph Yorke Sir Graham Moore Sir William Johnstone Hope Sir George Cockburn Sir Thomas Hardy The Hon. George Dundas Charles Adam Sir George Cockburn Sir Charles Adam Sir George Cockburn Sir William Parker Sir Charles Adam Sir James Dundas The Hon. Maurice Berkeley Hyde Parker The Hon. Maurice Berkeley The Hon. Sir Richard Dundas William Martin The Hon. Sir Richard Dundas The Hon. Sir Frederick Grey Sir Alexander Milne Sir Sydney Dacres Sir Alexander Milne Sir Hastings Yelverton Sir George Wellesley Sir Astley Key Sir Arthur Hood Lord John Hay Sir Arthur Hood Sir Richard Hamilton Sir Anthony Hoskins Sir Frederick Richards Lord Walter Kerr
First Sea Lords (1904–present)	Sir John Fisher Sir Arthur Wilson Sir Francis Bridgeman Prince Louis of Battenberg The Lord Fisher Sir Henry Jackson Sir John Jellicoe Sir Rosslyn Wemyss The Earl Beatty Sir Charles Madden, Bt Sir Frederick Field The Lord Chatfield Sir Roger Backhouse Sir Dudley Pound The Lord Cunningham of Hyndhope Sir John Cunningham The Lord Fraser of North Cape Sir Rhoderick McGrigor The Earl Mountbatten of Burma Sir Charles Lambe Sir Caspar John Sir David Luce Sir Varyl Begg Sir Michael Le Fanu Sir Peter Hill-Norton Sir Michael Pollock Sir Edward Ashmore Sir Terence Lewin Sir Henry Leach Sir John Fieldhouse Sir William Staveley Sir Julian Oswald Sir Benjamin Bathurst Sir Jock Slater Sir Michael Boyce Sir Nigel Essenhigh Sir Alan West Sir Jonathon Band Sir Mark Stanhope Sir George Zambellas Sir Philip Jones Sir Antony Radakin Sir Ben Key